But as Canadian Catholic News reported, some individuals were far from impressed with the 65-foot-long spider, which rises 18 feet when at rest and over 42 feet when in motion. Critics expressed their outrage on the archbishop Terrence Prendergast’s Facebook wall, with one woman reportedly describing Kumo as “disturbing, disappointing, and even shameful.” Others apparently referred to it as “demonic” and “sacrilegious.”
— Hyperallergic

Canada celebrated its 150th anniversary over the weekend of July 27th. Part of the celebration featured giant robots put on by La Machine, a street theatre company that constructs unusual objects for performances in public spaces. The company built two robots, a mechanical dragon-horse hybrid and... View full entry

The architect Eugenio Velazquez has had a tough couple years. Back in 2012, he was jailed for smuggling cocaine from Mexico into the United States. Now, his design for a new cathedral in Tijuana has been shut down—11 years after work first started.The Archbishop of Tijuana, Francisco Moreno... View full entry

Lisa Anne Auerbach created a ‘megazine’ of structures reminiscent of shopping malls or warehouses, hidden away from city centers, where thousands of people worship every week [...]

The conception of the cathedral is not only where one goes to be spiritual or commune with God, but to feel awe through the grandeur of the architecture [...] the US megachurch buildings are stripped wholesale of that sense of wonder and connection to the past; they are also far from the focal point of a city.
— theguardian.com

Related news stories on Archinect:Ancient Italian church comes back to life – built in wire meshOmaha is building a Tri-Faith campus with a church, a mosque and a synagogue (no joke)Why Modern Architecture Struggles to Inspire Catholics View full entry

There were never any construction plans or official permission. Everything is in my head. I am not an architect or a stonemason. I have never had any training in the building profession. My basic education was interrupted by the Civil War. I was inspired by books about cathedrals, castles and other religious buildings and they gave birth to my own work...—Don Justo Gallego Martínez
— thisbigcity.net

Born into humble means in the Spanish town of Mejorada del Campo in 1925 and having worked as a farmer and a bullfighter, Don Justo Gallego Martínez lived in a Trappist monastery for eight years until he was forced to leave when he contracted tuberculosis. Don Justo, who never had any training... View full entry

On the Portal of Paradise on the western façade of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan are sculptures of the end of modern New York. The Brooklyn Bridge is breaking in two, a bus plummeting from it into the water while waves rise up over the toppling skyline. People run in a panic below the Stock Exchange, and next to them a scorpion, snake, and other signs of pestilence swarm a skeleton.
— hyperallergic.com

The new Cathedral of the Northern Lights, situated in the Norwegian town of Alta over 300 miles north of the Arctic Circle, has just been inaugurated by the Crown Princess of Norway, Mette-Marit. The 154-foot-high cathedral, designed by Link Arkitektur in collaboration with schmidt hammer lassen architects and Haldde Arkitekter Inc., is perceived as a symbol and an architectural landmark for the entire area.
— bustler.net

[...] the University of Miami School of Architecture, in partnership with the Archdiocese of Port-au-Prince and Faith and Form Magazine, has organized a competition to choose the design for the new Cathedral. In the past year, 250 architects around the world have collaborated to submit 134 plans for the reconstruction.
— miamiherald.com